


A Future With You

by Aki (Akiko_Natsuko)



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Comfort, Dreams, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship/Love, Future, Gen, High School, M/M, Parents, Plans For The Future, Romantic Friendship, careers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-20 10:13:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16553855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Aki
Summary: Careers talks are an essential part of high-school life, even for the End class, but sometimes it can be hard to see a future beyond their task and parental pressures...Unless you're Karma of course. Nagisa is one of those who doesn't dare dream beyond their immediate future, but a certain red-head is determined to open his eyes.





	A Future With You

   The future wasn’t something that anyone in the E class often allowed themselves to contemplate. It loomed in the back of their minds like a silent beast, much more terrifying than anything they had faced in their exams, but in their minds, it was something that needed to be ignored. After all what was the point of contemplating something that might not happen unless they actually managed to kill Koro-sensei? That was the main reason, or at least that was what they told themselves and each other was the main reason, none of them wanting to admit that their status as the End class was a factor that made the future seem even more impossible.

   As always though Karma was an exception to that rule, he had always been one for dreaming big and ending up in the E class hadn’t changed that fact. Instead if anything it seemed to have given him more ideas of what he wanted to do with his life, and he never seemed fazed by the fact that they hadn’t yet killed Koro-sensei or that it seemed that no matter what they did, how well they did in exams, there was no escape from E class. None of the class particularly begrudged him for those dreams, especially as hearing him speak of them often helped bolster their spirits when their task to assassinate their teacher seemed as far from their grasp as ever. However, they could and did blame him when after hearing Karma discussing his plans for the future Koro-sensei with the support of their other teachers decided it was a good idea to hold a careers night for the class and invite their parents along for the ride as well.

   Even the red-head had seemed dismayed at that part, and most of the class assumed that meant that he wasn’t immune to the usual concern that came with any parent’s evening, especially when you were in their class. Therefore, they missed the way golden eyes locked on Nagisa even as Koro-sensei went on to outline his plans for the night, and the way Karma’s hands clenched into fists against the top of his desk, a dark expression flickering across his face as he took in the sudden tension that had filled the younger boy’s body.

****

Two weeks later:

     Nagisa sighed as he stared at the classroom door that had just closed sharply in his face, unsurprised but still hurt by his mother’s declaration that he didn’t need to be present for the talk with his teachers. Karasuma-sensei had attempted to protest, pointing out quite reasonably that it was about Nagisa’s future and so of course he should be there, but the man had been unprepared for the force of nature that was his mother. It didn’t help that the long trip up to their classroom had already put her in a foul mood, made worse by the fact that he hadn’t struggled with the climb after having to do it so often and he was surprised that he hadn’t suffered from her sharp tongue, although the fact that she was probably in there right now laying out her plans for his future was nearly as bad. He was well aware that her ‘plans’ would never mesh with his, not that he really had any and he was waiting for the eruption that would come the day that fact finally set in.

   He’d been stood there for about ten minutes, growing increasingly worried over what she could be saying, and what could be taking so long. Other parents’ evenings for their class had always been over and done with as quickly as possible, the school not wanting to risk the E-class students getting ideas and dreams above their station and she wondered what Koro-sensei and the others had been forced to do to even make this evening possible. Whilst it was little more of a nightmare for him, he knew that quite a few of the others were more enthusiastic about it, especially after their teacher’s had dedicated some time over the past couple of weeks to discussing what careers were out there, and relating it to the numerous skills they were learning, and he knew that it was no longer Karma only who had dreams for the future.

“Nagisa?” The sudden voice brought him out of his thoughts and he tried fruitlessly to make himself blend in with the wall, only to sigh as Isogai and Maehara appeared in front of him, both of them studying him with curious expressions and he wanted to groan. This was one of the many reasons why he didn’t want to bring his mother here, because there was too much of a risk of other people getting a glimpse into his home life, it was bad enough that Karma already knew.

“I thought it was your turn?” Maehara asked with a frown as he glanced towards the schedule stuck up on the wall, Nagisa followed his gaze, noting that they’d both already had their appointments and he couldn’t help but wish that they’d already gone home so that he didn’t have to face their curious looks as they turned their attention back to him. _Busted_ …that was the downside of having friends and classmates being trained for assassination, as quickly as you learnt skills to hide things you didn’t want to share, they learnt the skills to see through your masks and lies.

“It is,” Nagisa replied with a sigh after a moment of thought, realising that neither of them was going to leave the issue alone, and he offered them a weak smile as he gestured at the door to their classroom. “My mother is in there with Koro-sensei and the others right now…”

“Then why…”

   Karma’s eyes narrowed as he caught the panicked expression that appeared for a brief moment on Nagisa’s face, having been watching the situation between the three boys for a couple of minutes from just around the corner. He’d been coming to find the shorter teen in the hope of avoiding a situation like this, but it looked as though he was too late, and as much as he wanted to growl at Isogai and Maehara, he knew that it wasn’t their fault. Still that didn’t mean he had to stand by and watch Nagisa descend into a panic and shoving his hands into his pockets he ambled out from his hiding place, a playful grin appearing as the others immediately turned towards him.

“Nagisa,” he called, choosing to ignore the others in case he gave into the temptation to yell at them for stressing out Nagisa, his smile becoming more genuine as hopeful blue eyes turned in his direction. “Let’s go and get some juice.” It had become a code of sorts over the years, sounding like nothing more than a friendly request, but always offering Nagisa an out of whatever situation he had managed to wind up in.

“Karma,” Nagisa greeted his voice slightly shriller than usual as relief engulfed him. He knew that most people became nervous when they saw that playful grin, but it always brightened his day, especially when stuff like this was happening and he’d responded before he’d even thought about what he was doing. “Alright…sorry guys,” he added turning to the other two boys who were staring between them in confusion, although Isogai was also keeping a wary eye on Karma, having been caught on the wrong end of the red-head’s pranks on more than one occasion.

“We’ll see you in a little bit,” Karma interjected before they could say anything, wrapping a supportive arm around Nagisa’s shoulders before guiding him away and it was only when they were turning the corner that he glanced back at the boys. They both swallowed at the warning hidden in the golden eyes and they nodded to show they wouldn’t say anything, not that they could, as they had no idea what was going. However, it had clearly been the answer that he wanted as his gaze had softened for a moment and then they were gone.

“What the hell was that about?” Maehara demanded as soon as he was certain that it was safe, glancing towards the closed classroom door and Isogai with an arched eyebrow. It wasn’t often that Karma allowed himself to be so blatant about how he protected Nagisa, and he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t curious although the look that Karma had given them had him wanting to bury that curiosity as deep as possible.

“No idea,” Isogai replied after a moment with a small frown, he hadn’t missed the panic that had flashed across Nagisa’s face and he had to admit that he was worried for the shorter teen, but his sense of self-preservation kicked in then and he shook his head before adding quietly. “And as Karma’s involved I don’t want to know…”

“Yeah.”

**

   Karma smirked as he heard the other pair finally moving on, having stopped Nagisa once they’d been out of sight so that he could make sure that they’d got the message to stay out of this, and it was clear that they had. Nagisa was glancing between him and where they’d just come from, and it was clear that he was conflicted between the fact that the red-head had somehow managed to cow them successfully and irritation at himself for needing protection. Biting back a sigh he tightened the arm currently slung around Nagisa, urging him forwards once more as he knew that the shorter teen would still need to talk, and he didn’t want to risk his mother managing to overhear any of it.

“Thank you,” Nagisa murmured finally once he was certain that they were out of earshot, he knew that Isogai and Maehara were unlikely to forget what had happened anytime soon despite their words, and he didn’t want to risk adding any extra fuel to their curiosity.

“You’re welcome,” Karma replied softly as he guided them down the corridor towards the vending machines, rooting around in his pockets for change as they came into sight, but his voice was hard and focused as he glanced back at Nagisa. “I take it your mother is being her usual self?”

“Of course,” Nagisa replied with more than a hint of bitterness in his voice, his hands clenching at his sides as he added tersely. “I’m surprised she even let me come, and I’m glad that Karasuma-sensei insisted that we wear our uniform.” He shuddered at the mere thought of what could have happened if she’d been able to dress him as she liked, closing his eyes at the thought of the rest of his classmates getting to see the reality of his home life. It hadn’t been too bad during the crossdressing incident on the island, but that had just been part of an assassination. He didn’t want to think what they would say if they learnt what his home life could be like on the bad days.

   Karma stayed quiet as he bought them both a juice, stashing them away into his pocket for now before resuming his previous position and guiding the smaller boy outside. Thankfully Nagisa seemed quite content to follow him, and he lead the way around to the back of the school where Koro-sensei had built them a picnic area, insisting that they were going to make the most of the summer term. As expected it was currently abandoned as the evening chill was beginning to settle in and many of their parents weren’t accustomed to their poorly heated, mistreated classroom. His own parents had taken off after a brief chat with the teachers, thankfully not commenting when he said that he wanted to stay and chat with his classmates.

   Pushing Nagisa gently onto one of the benches he slipped in next to the smaller teen, smiling as he pushed the juice across to him and opening his own before pausing for a moment, waiting until Nagisa glanced across at him curiously before speaking.

“I’m sorry about tonight, if I hadn’t spoken about my plans for the future Koro-sensei would never have got this idea stuck in his head,” Karma didn’t like apologising even to Nagisa, but he had been wanting to do it ever since he’d seen the expression on the other’s face when the parents’ evening was first announced, but the smaller teen had been avoiding the topic like the plague for the last couple of weeks and Karma hadn’t wanted to push the issue.

“You don’t know that,” Nagisa pointed out with a sigh after taking a sip of juice, his gaze somewhat distant as he glanced up at the sky where the partial moon was just coming into view, and despite the situation his lips quirked up slightly. “He’s just trying to look out for us, even if he might blow the planet up…”

“But…”

“It’s fine,” Nagisa reassured him, voice and eyes warm as he turned to look at Karma, blinking at the uncomfortable expression on the red-head’s face and he found himself struggling not to laugh at him. _You really do hate apologising, huh?_ However, his expression darkened as he glanced at the school behind them, the thought of what his mother might be saying even now weighing down on him once more. “If she was like the other parents it wouldn’t be a problem, so it’s not your fault.”

“Yeah,” Karma agreed softly, realising that the shorter teen had a point, although he wasn’t quite sure what to make of the easy forgiveness. Still there had been a note of finality in the last bit, and he knew better than to continue pressing the issue and instead he followed Nagisa’s gaze before musing with more than a hint of mischief in his voice. “I wonder what Koro-sensei will say to her…”

“What do you mean?” Nagisa asked in confusion turning back to the other teen.

“Come on,” Karma arched an eyebrow at the smaller teen, a knowing expression on his face. “I know your mother.” Nagisa ducked his head at that reminder, remembering how horrified he’d been the day that the red-head had found out about his home-life and how certain he was that he was about to see the other teen walk away from him. Yet here he was still by his side, and as righteously angry about Nagisa’s life as ever, and despite the topic he felt himself relaxing slightly. _It’s okay as long as it’s Karma…_ “She’ll have gone in there and laid out ‘her’ plans for your future and somehow I don’t think that’s going to go down well,” Karma concluded strongly, dragging Nagisa back into the present with the forcefulness of his words and he blinked up at the other teen.

“Really?”

“I might not be a huge fan of school or teachers,” Karma replied, rolling his eyes slightly at the snort that escaped before Nagisa had been able to stop it, but there was amusement in his gaze as he glanced at the school once more. “But ours are different to the ones we’ve had in the past; they’ve proven that on more than one occasion.” He pulled a face at his own words, remembering when not that long ago he’d been convinced that he’d never be able to respect let alone trust a teacher again, but that was before this class and these teachers…

“I…” Nagisa opened his mouth instinctively intending to protest, the memory of previous parent’s evenings where the teachers had bowed before the force of nature that was his mother at the fore of his mind, but then he found himself unable to continue. Our teachers are different, our whole classroom is different. His lips curled upwards slightly as the memories of the last few months with Koro-sensei flashed through his mind, and he realised that Karma was right. “I guess I never really thought about it like that.”

   Karma grinned smugly, feeling Nagisa relaxing slightly as the smaller teen leant against his side as he finished his juice, relieved that he had managed to say the right thing as more than once he’d screwed up when trying to comfort the other teen about his mother. Those brief spats had been unpleasant to say the least and he was keen to avoid another. However, as he studied Nagisa out of the corner of his eyes he couldn’t stop curiosity welling up. He’d been watching the smaller teen closely for the past couple of weeks, and he’d noted how desperately the smaller teen had veered away from the slightest talk about the future, even to the point of sneaking out of the room when possible and he had to admit that it bothered him _. Does he even dream of the future?_

“But…” He began hesitantly.

“What is it?”

“You never really talk about the future,” Karma explained hesitantly as blue eyes drifted across to meet his gaze, catching the reluctance and nervousness that flickered through them before Nagisa managed to clear his expression. “I mean even less than the others do.” Even Terasaka had begun to think about the future the last couple of weeks, although he’d been clearly reluctant in the start and it had taken Koro-sensei provoking him several times to get him to open up and yet through all that Nagisa had managed to remain silent.

   Nagisa hesitated for a long moment, fighting off his immediate instinct which had been to take off, knowing that Karma would never let him get away and considering the red-head had already done his best to cheer him up, it would be pretty mean to just push him away. _The Future?_ He had been trying to avoid thinking about it and he found himself having to look down under the force of Karma’s gaze, not wanting to admit to his more driven friend that he didn’t currently have any plans, that he couldn’t see a future beyond their current situation, even on the days when he dared to imagine that they might succeed in killing their teacher.

“That’s because you have enough plans and dreams for the both of us,” he offered weakly, knowing that he had to give him some kind of answer as Karma wasn’t the type of person to let things go, even if he knew that Nagisa was reluctant to talk about this.

“Nagisa,” Karma said warningly, well aware that if he didn’t put his foot down straight away then the wily teen would try and squirm away from the topic and he didn’t want that to happen. For some reason he felt like it was more important for Nagisa to have dreams, than it was for him to have them, maybe it was because he’d always been able to dream, and he knew that they weren’t going to go anywhere. Or maybe it was because he wanted to know that he was featured in Nagisa’s plans just as much as the smaller teen was featured in his.

“What do you want me to say?” Nagisa asked wearily, not sure what to make of the sudden forcefulness as the red-head had seemed willing to let him avoid the topic up until now. Warily he met Karma’s gaze, startled by the intensely focused gaze fixated on him and after a moment he found himself ducking his head. _Idiot, don’t look at me like that…_

“The truth.”

“I…” Nagisa trailed off, unable to bring himself to deny that quiet demand, unable to remember the last time that Karma had been so serious about anything. Sighing he glanced down at his hands which at some point he’d twisted around one another, jumping as a warm hand settled on top of them and squeezed gently, and wide-eyed he peeped up at the red-head, finding Karma watching him with warm eyes. The gentle contact and warmth in that gaze gave him courage, and slowly he tried to explain why he found all this talk of the future so daunting, his voice trembling slightly. “I can’t see a future ahead of me, not until the business with Koro-sensei is done and…”

“Not until you can escape your mother,” Karma finished for him in a soft voice, and Nagisa gave a tight nod before breaking into a weak laugh.

“Why ask me if you already know the answer?”

“Because I want to hear it from you,” Karma replied seriously, and Nagisa blinked having expected a teasing answer, but there was no sign of his friend’s mischievous side at the moment. He jumped in a moment later when the red-head leaned in closer, turning to look at him with confusion, and feeling his breath catch as he stared into shadowed golden eyes. _Karma? Why do you care so much about this?_ He opened his mouth about to ask just that, but Karma spoke before he could. “You realise that she won’t have control of you forever?”

“I know,” Nagisa whispered, but he was unable to muster much conviction. There had been so many times when he’d wished that he was free of his mother, but nothing ever seemed to change and if anything, she seemed to get worse as time went on, and the thought of a future where she wasn’t there as least trying to pull the strings was a foreign notion at this point. _How can you see things so clearly?_ In the early days of their friendship he would have been likely to have brushed it aside as Karma just refusing to see the obstacles in front of him, but now he knew that he saw them all and more, but that he was constantly working out ways to scale those obstacles _. I can’t do that…_

“And even if she tries…” Karma was speaking again, his tone hard and determined, and with difficulty Nagisa dragged himself back to present. “I won’t let her.”

“Karma…”

“Even if I didn’t want you there in my future, I wouldn’t stand back and watch her hold you back from your own,” Karma finished fiercely, feeling his ears turning red as Nagisa continued to stare at him with wide eyes and after a moment Nagisa felt himself blushing as well, realising that there was far more to Karma’s words than he’d original assumed and he found himself having to look away. _What do I say to that?_ Only now he had a mental image of the red-head duelling with his mother, made worse by the fact that he knew Karma would do just that if he deemed it necessary, and he felt laughter bubbling up at the sheer absurdity of the image.

“Nagisa…?” Karma had been expecting any number of responses to his declaration, but laughter had not been one of them and he had no idea what to do as the smaller teen doubled over the table, laughing harder than he had in ages. For a few moments he just watched Nagisa laughing, drinking in the sight of reddened cheeks and bright eyes whenever the smaller teen glanced up at him before breaking into a fresh peal of laughter. However, whilst it was a relief to see Nagisa looking so happy, it didn’t help his confusion or concern and he couldn’t keep the worry out of his voice as he finally managed to ask. “What?”

“Sorry…” Nagisa tried to get himself back under control as he caught the worry in the other’s voice, forcing himself to sit up and wrapping an arm around himself, aching slightly from laughing so hard and there was a smile on his lips as he explained softly. “It’s just the thought of you fighting my mother….” Reaching up he dried his eyes, before turning back to the red-head who was watching him with softer eyes after that explanation. “Thank you, Karma.”

   They lapsed into a comfortable silence after that, Nagisa trying to calm himself down, whilst Karma was content to just sit and watch for the time being and he was happier still when a few minutes later Nagisa’s head came to rest against his shoulder. Wrapping an arm around the smaller teen’s shoulder once more, he smiled as he felt Nagisa press closer without any further urges. Still he hadn’t managed to get all the answers he wanted and after a couple of minutes he summoned his courage enough to broach the topic once more.

“So…”

“So?”

“I know you Nagisa,” Karma said sternly, although there was amusement dancing in his eyes as he glanced down to meet Nagisa’s gaze, his free hand coming up to muss the blue hair brushing against his ear. “Somewhere in that pretty head of yours, I know you’ve at least considered the future _.” I hope…_

“Maybe once or twice,” Nagisa admitted after a moment, glancing away as he felt his cheeks heating up once more, not that it helped as he could feel Karma’ gaze burning into him from above.

“And?”

“Geez you’re like a dog with a bone,” Nagisa grumbled under his breath as he glanced back, finding Karma still watching him with intense eyes and he sighed before asking quietly. “Why do you care so much?” He knew that the red-head was always looking forwards, so it made sense for him to want Nagisa to do the same, but there seemed to be something more to his desire for an answer today, but for the life of him he couldn’t work out what it was.

“Because,” Karma hesitated for a moment, still a little uncomfortable with openly expressing proper emotions, but knowing that it was the only way to make Nagisa understand. Meeting wide, blue eyes and seeing the confusion in their depths confirmed that the other was as oblivious as ever and with a defeated sigh he managed to convince his voice to work once. “Nagisa …I want to be part of that future.” When he was younger he’d always sworn that he would never rely on someone so much that he couldn’t see a future without them, and he had stuck to his words until the day he’d met Nagisa. At once he’d known that there was something different about the blue-haired boy, and as they’d grown closer every dream of his future had featured Nagisa. _Please don’t let me be the only one with those dreams…_

“Do I even have a choice in that?” Nagisa asked teasingly, blushing even brighter as it finally dawned on him why the other teen was being so insistent, and he could feel his heart rate speeding up as Karma stared at him, the oddly grave expression on his face telling him that the red-head actually needed to hear the words for once. Swallowing hard he managed to stammer out the words he knew that Karma needed, realising as he did so that he’d needed to hear them as well. “Of course, you’re in my future. I still don’t know for sure what I want to do, but as long as you’re there I don’t really mind.”


End file.
